Medieval Timeline

William the Conqueror Invades England

Sep 28, 1066

Claiming his right to the English throne, William, duke of Normandy, invades England at Pevensey on Britain's southeast coast. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history.

c. 1150 paper is first mass-produced in Spain

Jan 1, 1150

The manufacture of paper also began in these places; in Samarkand in 751, in Baghdad in 793, in Egypt c. 900, in Spain in 1150, in Germany in 1391 and in England in 1494. Papers and printed materials gradually became available to the masses, which helped their literacy.

Magna Carta

Jan 1, 1215

Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an English charter, originally issued in Latin in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219,[1] and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter

End of the Crusades

Jan 1, 1270

The crusading movement came to an end by the close of the thirteenth century. The emperor Frederick II for a short time recovered Jerusalem by a treaty, but in 1244 A.D. the Holy City became again a possession of the Moslems.

The Plague

Jan 1, 1348

In Medieval England, the Black Death was to kill 1.5 million people out of an estimated total of 4 million people between 1348 and 1350. No medical knowledge existed in Medieval England to cope with the disease. After 1350, it was to strike England another six times by the end of the century

First Appearance of Robin Hood in Literature

Jan 1, 1378

The first literary references to Robin Hood appear in a series of 14th- and 15th-century ballads about a violent yeoman who lived in Sherwood Forest with his men and frequently clashed with the Sheriff of Nottingham

Chaucer Writes the Canterbury Tales

Jan 1, 1387

Chaucer began to write the stories in the 1380s. He stopped writing them in the 1390s. Some think that he deliberately did not write the total 120 stories.

War of the Roses

Jan 1, 1455

The Wars of the Roses were intermittent civil wars fought by members of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house, tracing their descent from King Edward III.

First Printing of Le Morte d'Arthur

Jan 1, 1485

In 1485, the same year that King Richard III’s death began the era of the Tudor monarchs, the pioneer of English printing, William Caxton, printed a volume that he entitled Le Morte Darthur. According to Caxton’s preface to this volume, he had been asked to print a history of King Arthur by certain “noble jentylmen.”

First Tudor king, Henry VII, is crowned

Oct 30, 1485

His victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field overthrew Richard III and effectively put an end to the Wars of the Roses. Henry is also known for his extreme frugality and his ability as an administrator.